Chicago Tribune [1982-10-10]

Chicago Tribune Sunday, October 10, 1982
Section 6 Page 31

Off-center dollar bills:
Are they winners or
are they worthless?

By Roger Boye

Here are answers to more questions
about coins and currency:

Q-I have two bills printed off-center
with wider-than-normal margins on the
left side and no margins on the opposite side.
Any value to collectors?-V.C., Chicago.

A-At best your unusual items are worth just a
little more than face value in the hobby market.

Federal Reserve notes are printed on large
sheets of paper, 32 to the sheet. Error collectors
prefer to own bills with designs so far off-center
that the edge of an adjoining bill is visible. Your
money doesn't have the "extra edge" and thus
isn't "in demand."

Quite possibly, a Chicago bank has just re-
leased a batch of off-center bucks, judging by
the number of similar questions I received in
late September.

Q-In your Sept. 26 column, you stated that
grooves around the edges of dimes and quarters
"serve no practical purpose" in modern-day
America since the government no longer uses
silver or gold in circulating coinage. On the
contrary, the grooves serve a very practical
purpose for the blind: making coins easier to
identify by touch. Grooves are especially impor-
tant in telling the difference between a penny
and a dime, a nickel and quarter.

Now if only the government would make the
Susan B. Anthony dollar a [multi] sided coin. If
the sighted have such problems distinguishing
Susie B's from quarters, can you imagine what it
is like for the blind? Perhaps we should write
letters to the Treasury. Do I have any sup-
port?-E.J., Evanston.

A-Thank you for your incisive comments.
Two important persons to write to would be Mrs.
Donna Pope, director of the U.S. Mint [Depart-
ment of the Treasury, Washington, D.C. 20220],
or U.S. Rep. Frank Annunzio [D., Ill.], chairman
of the House Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs
and Coinage [Room 2303, Rayburn Building,
Washington, D.C. 20515].

But don't expect quick results. Uncle Sam last
made Anthony dollars for circulation in 1980;
with millions of the coins in storage, chances for
future production--even of a noncircular coin--
are nill.

Q-For the last several years, I've owned a $20
bill that has an unusual misprint. When the bill
lies flat, it looks normal; but when I pull at both
ends, two white streaks are exposed--areas
where there's no printing, just blank space. Is it
worth anything?-R.K., Bellwood.

A-Government machines produced your bill
on paper that developed folds before it entered
the printing press. When you smooth out the
paper--in effect, take out the folds--the blank
streaks are exposed. Inspectors are supposed to
destroy poorly printed money, but some of it still
gets into circulation.

Most likely, the retail value of your bill would
range from $30 to $60, depending on its condition
and the length, width and slope of the streaks.
Wide streaks running at an angle are less
common than narrow streaks running vertically.